In 1941, the city's annual Christmas parade for children took place on December 14, a
week after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Eleven floats, high school bands and groups of marching children,
led by Santa Claus, paraded up and down Canal street. The Times-Picayune wrote, "War might be
raging throughout the world with its hate and discord, but as far as the school children of New Orleans were
concerned the Christmas season, with its message of peace and good will, Sunday started in earnest."